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Library cats

I haven't been posting much lately because I've been feeling very down (for the usual reasons: no job, stuck at end of world etc etc) and can't think of much to say. So hey, here are seven American library cats for you, combining two of my favourite things.

Dewey is the most famous. In 1988, after being discovered in a frozen book return bin, Dewey Readmore Books became the official mascot of the Spencer Public Library in Iowa. He attended meetings, greeted patrons, and inspected every delivery until he died in 2006 at the age of 19. People drove hundreds of miles to meet him, and Library director Vicki Myron wrote a best-selling book, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. The first chapter is on the site and I first read it last year and it made me cry then. I did this time too. :-P

Squeakers lived on the campus of Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, for ten years before becoming Willet Memorial Library’s library cat. She was about 23 years old when she died in 2008 which is damn good going. Squeakers spent most of her time in her later years sitting in a comfy chair near the library entrance, so she could see and inspect everyone who came in.

Nyx is amazing because she was born without eyes in 2008 yet gets around as easily as a sighted cat, sitting on the back of chairs, playing with toys, jumping on counters and desks, batting pens and pencils onto the floor, and unwrapping and eating librarian's lunches. Like a bat, she uses echolocation--she makes sounds and calculates how far they travel when they bounce back. She also has a super-loud purr (notice how she knows where the camera is) and is spoiled rotten by the staff and patrons with attention and toys.

Browser has lived at the Pine River Library in Minnesota since 2002. He even moved along with the library to their new building. There are photos of him on Flickr; skip the Halloween stuff and go to pages 5 and onwards.

Max was thought of as the Library Cat at the Hastings Branch Library in Pasadena from the early 80s until 1996, even though he never actually lived there. He lived nearby but visited the library so often the librarians issued him his own library card. Max would go and wait at the library door until someone opened it for him, and once inside, he ruled the roost. One day, Max’s visits stopped. The A concerned library staff investigated, and discovered that his family had moved away, taking Max with them. I hope he found another library.